Today, restaurants and other food preparers find it to their advantage to be able to cook and prepare foods more efficiently with less operator intervention. By reducing the operator interaction, labor costs are conserved. With increased efficiency, the quality and uniformity of the food preparation process can easily be maintained.
Many food ovens currently in use today are specifically designed to be used as cooking ovens. The cook must periodically monitor the cooking process to determine when to remove the food item from the oven. Upon completion of the cooking process, the cook then manually transfers the food item from the cooking oven to a holding oven where the food item can be maintained at a constant temperature until it is time to serve the meal.
There are several ovens in use that have single heating elements upon which to cook and a single thermostat to set the temperature. The cook must monitor the cooking process to determine when to remove the food item from the cooking oven.
There are several patents that disclose programmable oven controllers and sensing systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,296, 683, granted Mar. 12, 1994, to D. Burkett and G. Mercer, discloses a preheating method and apparatus for use in a food oven. The apparatus disclosed preheats the oven to a predetermined set temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,439, granted Jan. 26, 1993, to D. Burkett and G. Mercer, describes a method and apparatus for operating a food oven that includes a base heating element and quartz bulbs. The cooking cycle is comprised of brown, cook and finish intervals. The duration that the quartz lamps are activated is dependent on at least one of three factors; the oven air temperature, the load compensation factor, and a base temperature set point.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,940, granted Oct. 13, 1992, to W. J. Budzyna, et al, discloses a method and apparatus for rapidly heating or cooking a food product. The oven apparatus is comprised of a closed-loop heated air system that includes a programmed central processing unit (CPU) to control the oven's overall operation. Various sensors comprise the system, such as a door switch, assorted temperature transducers, an air flow switch, and a product-in switch.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,028, granted May 5, 1992, to D. Lee, et al, details a method and control arrangement for cooking appliances. The disclosed system is responsive to the selection and placement of the food to be cooked. In another disclosed feature, the system control is responsive to the selected food item, number of rack positions, and the rate of energy released from the energy sources for optimum cooking.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,414, granted Jun. 6, 1989, to K. Edamula, discloses an electronically controlled oven comprised of a main body and a remote controller which is separate from the main body. A scanner is used to scan a code representing a recipe and transmitting the code via a wireless signal, such as by infrared radiation. The main body is comprised of a controller and oven; the controller having a computer to output the heater control signals and a memory for storing the cooking programs and recipes; the oven having a cooking chamber and heaters as well as a heater control device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,662, granted Dec. 2, 1986, to S. R. Woolf, discloses a programmable multifunction feedback cooking apparatus that senses the temperature of a food substance or liquid within a cooking vessel. A temperature transducer producing an analog signal is digitized and subsequently fed into a computer which automatically adjusts the amount of heat energy that is applied by a heat source to the cooking food substance. A remote control feature programs the cooking apparatus from a remote location, using a telephone.
None of the above referenced prior art provides for the true remote operation of a universal food preparation oven using bidirectional communication at an extended distance. One of the prior art uses infrared radiation as the communication link between the remote and the oven controller. Infrared radiation communication is generally limited to a line-of-sight application, having no obstruction in between. Another provides remote program entry using serial audio signals that are fed into the receiver of a telephone. Further, in these systems, there exists no provision for monitoring and correcting, if necessary, the cooking process or the preprogrammed sequence and/or recipe.
Therefore, it can be concluded that there exists a continuing need for a universal programmable cooking oven controller, one that can be remotely programmed to operate unattended and one that can be remotely operated to monitor and/or modify an existing programmed schedule. In addition, the universal programmable cooking oven controller is one that can be remotely interrogated to determine the cooking progress. In this regard, this invention fulfills this need.